Noble to direct ‘Speech’

Stage version targets a 2012 launch

Brit helmer Adrian Noble has been tapped to direct the developing stage version of “The King’s Speech.”

Producer Michael Alden, working with casting director Gabrielle Dawes, has not yet locked in a cast for the nine-actor legit incarnation of the story about King George VI and his speech therapist.

According to the producer, a tentative production plan would see the show begin life in the U.K., first with a preem outside of London or possibly with a regional U.K. tour prior to landing on the West End. Broadway would follow.

No timeline has been set, Alden added, and no venues have yet been confirmed. He hopes to launch the show in the U.K. in early 2012, with the play potentially securing a Main Stem berth for the fall of that year.

David Seidler, who won an Oscar for his “King’s Speech” screenplay, also penned the play, which he wrote prior to writing the movie. The stage production is moving ahead with that original script, although Alden didn’t rule out the possibility of incorporating changes based on details that have since emerged regarding the historical events depicted in the story.

Broadway credits for Noble, a former a.d. of the Royal Shakespeare Company, include “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

Alden said it was unlikely that any of stars of the film, including Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, would reprise their roles for the stage incarnation.